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China, Japan blame each other for jet encounter

The Associated Press

Posted:
06/12/2014 02:04:24 AM MDT

Updated:
06/12/2014 03:34:40 AM MDT

Click photo to enlarge

In this undated photo released by Japan Ministry of Defense, Chinese SU-27 fighter plane is shown. China and Japan are blaming each other for a close encounter between military jets over the East China Sea. China's defense ministry says Japanese F-15 fighters followed a Chinese TU-154 plane on regular patrol Wednesday, June 11, 2014 and got as close as 30 meters (100 feet). Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said Wednesday that two Chinese SU-27 fighters had posed a danger to Japanese aircraft by flying near them. (AP Photo/Japan Ministry of Defense)

BEIJING (AP) — China and Japan are blaming each other for a close encounter between military jets over the East China Sea.

China's Defense Ministry said Thursday that Japanese F-15 fighters followed a Chinese TU-154 plane on a regular patrol Wednesday morning and got as close as 30 meters (100 feet). It released two videos on its website purporting to show the incident, which it said had "seriously affected" the safety of the Chinese plane.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga denied on Thursday that Japanese aircraft had approached a Chinese plane and said Japan stood by the version it gave on Wednesday — that two Chinese SU27 fighters had posed a danger to Japanese aircraft by flying near them. "Chinese criticism is irrelevant," Suga said.

On Wednesday, Japan lodged a diplomatic protest with Beijing over the incident and on Thursday its Foreign Ministry summoned China's ambassador.

Tensions between the two Asian rivals have worsened in recent years over a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese. Japan controls the islands but China also claims them.

The two countries have increased patrols by ships and military planes to press their conflicting territorial claims. They had a similar incident on May 24.

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"The latest incident occurred despite our strong protest and request for preventive efforts following the previous incident, and the government of Japan takes it extremely seriously," Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Akitaka Saiki told reporters after meeting with Ambassador Cheng Yonghua.

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